Prep football: Marietta falls to Dover

October 26, 2013

Merrick Mamarella passed for seven touchdowns and ran for an eighth as the Dover Tornados rolled to a 60-18 East Central Ohio League win over the Marietta Tigers Friday night at Don Drumm Stadium.

Mamarella completed 25-of-37 passes for 341 yards as Dover rolled up 509 total yards in the game.

It took the fast paced Tornadoes just over one minute to get on the scoreboard as Mamarella connected on a 19-yard touchdown pass to Evan Snyder for a 6-0 lead.

The Tigers came roaring right back on their first possesion as senior Quinton Coffield, making his first start at quarterback due to injuries to both Anthony Kimbrough and John Henry, took the second snap from scrimmage and raced 72-yards for a touchdown.

Brent Huck's extra point gave the orange and black the early 7-6 lead.

"This was my first time playing quarterback and we put that package in this week," said the 5-foot-8, 138-pound Coffield. "I got around the outside and it was there. The line blocked great it was just perfect execution of the play."

On the ensuing kickoff, Dover misplayed Huck's kick and found themselves buried at the two-yard line.

The Tigers forced them to go three-and-out but turned the ball right back over to Dover when a flea-flicker pass from freshman Trent Dawson was intercepted by Jake Armstrong.

Dover marched right down the field and Mamarella found Cory Contini for the first of what would be four touchdown passes for a 14-7 lead.

Huck, who will be playing Saturday for the Tiger soccer team when they battle Warren for the district championship in Lucasville, drilled a 29-yard field goal to trim the lead to 14-10.

Unfortunately for MHS head coach Adam Eichhorn and his Tigers, that would be as close as they would get to Dover as the Tornadoes ripped off 46 unanswered points.

Mamarella connected twice more before halftime with Contini, and once each with Jordan Mills and Shay Smith to send Dover to intermission with a 39-10 lead.

Coffield was a major bright spot in the game for Marietta as the senior receiver turned running back turned receiver rushed for a game-high 151 yards in the game on 17 carries while also catching a pass for 15-yards and completing one-of three passes for nine more.

"Quinton is just a true competitor," said Eichhorn, in his second year as Tiger head coach. "The kid loves the game and you just wish you had a hundred just like him."

A pair of freshman made their prescence known for the Tigers as well as Dawson took over as quarterback in the second half and completed 7-of-15 pass attempts for 62 yards, while Aaron Elliott also passed the century mark by rushing for 106 yards on 11 carries including a 68-yard fourth quarter run that rounded out the scoring.

Despite the lopsided score Eichorn was quite sure that his team left everything they had on the artificial turf of their home stadium.

"This season hasn't been what we hoped or what we wanted but we've told our kids you don't fail until you quit," said Eichhorn. "We came out early on and had the lead against a very good Dover team and I am very proud of our effort."

Dover, which came into the game ranked sixth in the Divison III, Region nine standings, improved to 7-2 on the season and will likely move onto the playoffs, while the Tigers slip to 2-7 with a very tough matchup against Zanesville at home next week to bring a close to their season.

"We know they (Zanesville) are a very good team but we will come out and give 100 percent until the fourth quarter buzzer goes off," said Coffield.